Scottie Scheffler Shows Jack Nicklaus (And Everyone Else) Why He’s World’s Best

Perhaps the most compelling answer during Scottie Scheffler’s post-victory press conference at the Memorial Tournament on Sunday evening wasn’t even given by the man who was asked the question.

Not long after the world’s No. 1-ranked player punctuated his 16th career PGA Tour title by playfully removing his hat and placing it on the head of his 1-year-old son, Scheffler was questioned about his killer instinct – one which feels much like a human swatting a mosquito from their arm.

In other words, more instinct than killer.

“I mean, I have no idea,” said a slightly exasperated Scheffler, who’s continually and skillfully avoided providing any ammunition to his competitors when asked some variation of, “Why are you so much better than all the other guys?”

This time, he just happened to have the tournament host sitting next to him – a guy who knows a thing or two about winning golf tournaments.

“I’ll answer for you,” interjected 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus. “He’ll compete to what he has to do. I mean, he doesn’t want to tell you; he doesn’t want to brag about what he does. But he has the ability to bring his level to whatever level it needs to be. That’s what good players do. And, you know, he’s not a good player. He’s a great player. I mean, look at the record that he has had the last few years. It’s unbelievable.”

As usual, Nicklaus didn’t miss.

We can all search for the beefiest superlative to best describe Scheffler’s unceasing dominance, but no thesaurus includes one fitting enough to match what the man considered by many to be golf’s “GOAT” offered in relation to his own performance of generations ago.

“He’s playing better than I played,” Nicklaus continued, “and more consistent.”

The most relevant comparison for Scheffler, though, isn’t Nicklaus, but the last player to go back-to-back at Muirfield Village, among a million other accomplishments, Tiger Woods.

We’ve collectively been reticent to make any comparisons to Tiger for the same reason that the NHL’s next up-and-coming goal scorer shouldn’t have to live up to the standards of Wayne Gretzky or the NFL’s next great wide receiver shouldn’t have to play in the shadow of Jerry Rice.

Without saddling Scheffler with such labels – after all, he’s only a little over three years removed from his first career victory — we can make certain comparison between the two.

The easiest one is their shared ability to close out golf tournaments. Woods was famous for taking a lead, then essentially giving every other contender the Heisman, holding them off on his way to the winner’s circle. Scheffler is becoming a similar type of closer, having parlayed his last nine 54-hole outright leads into Sunday coronations.

There’s another comparison in that neither one necessarily intimidated his opponents – old narratives be damned – but the others knew the proficiency level of the guy they were trying to beat, which in turn perhaps forced them to try and be a little too perfect on the golf course, invariably leading to mistakes and allowing Tiger or Scottie to cruise into the clubhouse without much heavy lifting.

None of which is to say the comparisons continue at every turn.

When Woods was dominating, everyone knew it. He knew it, the other players knew it, the fans knew it. Heck, even your grandmother who’d never previously watched a golf tournament knew when Tiger was on the brink of another triumph.

That’s usually not the case with Scheffler. Like a race car driver who drafts off a frontrunner for a while, he’ll often lurk until the time when either he pulls ahead or another player blows a tire. There were undoubtedly people watching the Memorial – or the PGA Championship two weeks earlier – who believed it was set up for a great finish, then retreated to the kitchen to make a sandwich and returned a few minutes later to realize it was all but over.

Therein lies the brilliance of Scheffler. He can lull everyone to sleep, then – bang! – all of a sudden, he’s claimed full control of the golf tournament. Like the mosquito on your arm, there was no other possible outcome.

Lurk, then lull. Lurk, then lull.

Don’t believe it? Just ask the tournament host, who provided plenty of candid analysis in the aftermath.

“Your champion is the one who manages all those conditions, and Scottie managed them,” Nicklaus said. “He didn’t play, for him, spectacular golf. He played what he should do. He played good, solid, smart golf and, you know, three 70s and a 68, that’s pretty good golf under the conditions that were out there. That’s what the best player in the world does.”